India’s largest cigarette maker, ITC Ltd. on Friday reported a drop of 19.65 per cent September quarter profit of Rs 3,232.40 crore on a year-on-year (YoY) basis against a net profit of Rs 4,023.10 crore in the same quarter a year-ago.
“The operating environment remained extremely challenging during the quarter with the unabated increase in daily covid cases prompting several states to impose localized lockdowns. This impacted the recovery momentum, particularly in the months of July and August, and posed significant challenges to sales operations. The situation continues to improve with the progressive easing of restrictions from September’20,” said ITC in a statement.
During the September quarter, the consolidated net profit of the company was 18.23 per cent down at Rs 3,413.44 crore and total revenue from products and services rose to Rs 11,891.9 crore as compared to Rs 11,750 crore in the previous year period. Revenue from other operations decreased to Rs 84.84 crore from Rs 121.31 crore in the year-ago period.
ITC’s revenue from cigarettes dropped to Rs 5,121.30 crore as on quarter ended on 30 September, 2020, from Rs 5,326.83 crore in last year quarter. Revenue from FMCG business grew to Rs 8916.25 crore during the quarter, from Rs 8615.14 crore in same quarter previous year. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the company’s hotel business was severely impacted and its revenue dropped to Rs 81.96 crore from Rs 426.63 period in the year-ago period.
On Friday, the share of ITC Ltd. closed at Rs 173.95 on BSE, marginally down from its previous close.